


A Promise Kept (Even If Eight Years Too Late)

by augopher



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Derek and Stiles are parents, Domestic, Fluff and Angst, Hero Stiles, M/M, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Soulmate Color AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3417953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/augopher/pseuds/augopher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In that familiar soulmate trope, where everyone sees in black and white until they meet their soulmate, and they see in color until the soulmate dies, Derek and Stiles have been together for over a decade. </p><p>One day, one ordinary day...the colors disappear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise Kept (Even If Eight Years Too Late)

**Author's Note:**

> Based on tumblr post: pleasegodletmelive.tumblr.com/post/84492806878/owynsama-apharthurkirklands  
> specifically the last comment  
> au where everything is black and white until you meet your soulmate. ADDITIONALLY: when your soulmate dies, the world goes back to black and white  
> No but can you imagine having a normal day at work or running errands but then everything suddenly goes black and white.

 

 

 

The blaring alarm clock startled Derek awake. Ugh Mondays. He, like countless others, hated Mondays. For one, it meant he didn’t get to stay in bed for two additional hours, curled up behind his husband until Stiles needed to get up for work. Those two hours were some of his favorite moments in the world. Secondly, it meant he had to get up for work. Okay so that last bit was more of a Monday through Friday thing.

Some people (Cough- Stiles- cough) loved their jobs. His husband worked as the city library’s head librarian. Books, Stiles loved books. Their house was filled with them. The guy could hardly go a week without buying one.

Derek, however, was not so lucky. Ever see what goes into to mortgage underwriting? Might pay decently, but it sucks the life out of you real fast. There was nothing so depressing as denying a refinance for someone’s grandma, a woman with perfect credit, and minimal debt only because she was on a fixed income when the refinance would save her money each month. The job was not what he envisioned for himself when he was younger. Not by a long shot.  

Today however, Stiles could not sleep in.

Derek kissed his shoulder. “Hey, Sleepyhead. You gotta get up now.”

“Five more minutes, D. I was having the best dream.” He groaned as he flopped over onto his back.

Reluctant to get out of bed himself, Derek rolled on top of him, propping himself up on his elbows. “Yeah?” He asked, capturing Stiles’ mouth in a kiss. “What about?”

Stiles’ eyelids fluttered open. “I haven’t brushed my teeth. Morning breath.”

Derek smiled. “Don’t care about morning breath. Tell me about your dream.” He kissed him again, stroking Stiles’ cheeks with his thumbs.

He gave Derek a sleepy grin. “We were on a beach in Hawaii. Just you and me. We had those drinks with the little paper umbrellas, and for once I did not sunburn. My whole life, I’ve wanted to take a boat out to sea a bit, not a cruise ship or yacht or anything. Just a little charter boat so I could sit and watch the ocean. I’ve seen pictures of the water around Hawaii; the way the blues and greens swirl together is like living art. I bet it looks like your eyes...I’d love to see that someday.”

“Mmm. Sounds nice. I have some vacation saved up. We should take a vacation, and I promise you, I will make sure you see the ocean from that far out.” He sighed. “When was the last time we did that, took a vacation?”

Stiles chuckled. “Before we adopted Laura.” He yawned. “I think eight years is long enough a wait for a proper vacation.”

“Yeah. Can you imagine the colors there? I bet they’re amazing.” Twelve years together and married for a decade, and he still couldn’t believe he’d been lucky enough to find his soulmate, opening the colors of the world up to his eyes. After losing his first girlfriend at fifteen to a fatal accident, then most of his family in a house fire a year later, only to bury his older sister, Laura, and only remaining family when he was nineteen, he never thought he’d find his soulmate. He just wasn’t that fortunate. Then, this kid, crossed his path one day after Laura’s funeral. Stiles was everything he thought he’d never get and exactly what he needed at that moment. The universe had a funny way of going about things.

He once asked Stiles what it was like when he first saw color, what the first hue was that he saw, and Stiles said  _‘Easy. Green, but not like the green of the grass, green like swirling waters, a little blue mixed in, some brown here and there.’_  Derek knew, of course, that Stiles was describing his eyes (Because that was how his mother always described them), which was funny considering the first color he recognized had been the red in Stiles’ t-shirt. Then again, Stiles always was more romantic than he. Until that moment, he had seen the world in grayscale. Well they both had. It was how the world worked after all.

Derek kissed Stiles’ forehead. “Time to get up. You promised Laura you'd take her to the zoo today.”

“I know. I know.” Stiles smacked himself in the forehead. “I forgot to deposit that check for my dad. I told him I would do it yesterday. I’ll just stop by the bank on our way.”

Derek grabbed an undershirt and boxer briefs and walked towards their en-suite bathroom. “Just go tomorrow. You work next door.”

“No. I’m pretty sure he has plans for the money. I want him to have it right away.” He said, joining Derek in the shower.

“Well don’t stay at the zoo too long. I want to plan our vacation right away.”

Stiles squeezed a blob of shampoo into his hands and scrubbed at Derek’s scalp.

“I love it when you do that.” Derek dropped his head onto Stiles’ shoulder.

“I know. You’re really gung-ho about the vacation.”

“And spend two weeks alone with you, away from a job I hate? Absolutely.”

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

The pair sat at the table eating breakfast, Stiles choosing a bagel and cream cheese, while Derek munched away on the healthier option of cereal and an orange. About ten minutes later, nine-year-old Laura came shuffling into the kitchen, her eyes heavy with sleep with bedhead all over the place, tight brown curls sticking up every which way.

A year ago, she’d come home from school crying because she’d been picked on about her hair. She asked her parents why they adopted her and not picked a child that looked like them. Stiles, the beautiful soul that he was told her he thought she’d been the most beautiful child he’d ever seen, and that he knew the moment he saw her that she was supposed to be part of their family, that they loved her immediately. Derek, knew better though, knew there had been more to it than that. The part about Stiles thinking she was just adorable had been true. However, they’d been looking to adopt an infant, but infants were selected quickly. When Stiles learned poor Laura had been surrendered at the hospital after her mother gave birth and had languished in foster care for a year and a half simply because she was not as desirable as a white infant, he’d seen red. It didn’t take him long to convince Derek that the little girl was a perfect fit (And by not long, Derek meant one look from those doe eyes and he agreed).

Now, Derek couldn’t imagine any other option.

“Good morning, Princess.” Stiles said, kissing the top of her head.

“Hi, Papa.”

Derek stood and pulled her cup and bowl down out of the cabinet for her. “What do you want to eat?”

“Lucky Charms.” She yawned.

“You sleep well?” He asked, grabbing the box of cereal from atop the fridge and handing it to her.

“No. Too excited, Daddy. Can’t wait to see the giraffes.” She poured the cereal into the bowl and carefully splashed milk on top of it. She sat down without filling her cup.

Derek set a glass of orange juice next to her, and soon they’d all finished their breakfasts. Derek quickly finished getting ready before kissing Laura’s head. “Have fun today, Sweetie. I love you.” He gave Stiles a peck on the lips. “You have fun too. Don’t tease the monkeys the way you usually do. Love you.”

“Love you too, D.” Stiles waved him out the door. “You’re going to be late.”

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Derek sat at the desk in his tiny cubicle, plodding away at the same loan he’d been working on since two yesterday afternoon. God, this job felt like how he always imagined kissing a Dementor would feel. Soul sucking, mindless, miserable. His cubicle mate walked in and sat down. _Must be nine thirty_. “Hey, Isaac. How’s your day going?” He spun around in his chair to see Isaac staring at him, mouth agape.

“Dude, your eyes are amazing. Anyone ever tell you that?”

Derek cocked an eyebrow at him. “Stiles tells me that all the time.”

“Well yeah, but now I can see them!”

“Oh…and what’s their name?” Derek smirked. He’d been around enough people in his life to recognize the ‘I found my soulmate and now can see in technicolor’ look.

Isaac sighed. “Her name is Allison. And she’s beautiful.”

“How’d you meet?”

“In line at Target yesterday. Speaking of which, why in the hell does that store use so much red?”

He laughed because he’d wondered the same thing twelve years ago. “No, idea.”

“And did you get like headaches from all the color?”

“No, but I have some Advil if you need it.”

“I may take you up on it. You know what the best part about meeting her was? It wasn’t the color. It’s almost like you can feel your hearts’ syncing up.

“Yeah,” Derek gave a wistful smile, “that doesn’t go away.”

“Really? That’s amazing. How long’s it been for you again?”

“Thirteen years together in August.”

“That’s crazy. I had to wait until thirty, and you got lucky at twenty-two.”

“Nineteen, but he was only sixteen. Had to wait a while.”

“Nineteen, twenty-two what’s the difference? I don’t even know why I came to work today. We have a date tonight. There is no way I will be able to concentrate at all. Especially when we have to sit through that Fair Lending seminar in what, an hour?”

Derek groaned. That seminar was pretty much the same every year. He’d had the pleasure of attending (Mandatory mind you) it for the last seven years. It rarely changed. “Yeah. I wish I’d taken the day off. Stiles and Laura are at the zoo today. That sounds like so much more fun.”

“Tell me about it.”

The next hour dragged on, and he knew the two hours that followed would pass by even slower. How was this his life? The only bright spots in that life were Stiles and Laura. He couldn’t even imagine slogging away at this job for another twenty five years or so. Ugh, don’t remind him.

At 10:25, he grabbed his notebook and some pens (For doodling purposes not note taking) and trudged down to the large conference room on the first floor. He stopped to buy a Diet Coke from the vending machine and filed into the back row of seats, taking the chair next to Isaac.

“Ready for the most uneventful two hours of your life, Derek?” Isaac laughed.

“Truthfully, I’d rather be working.” A few minutes later, the speaker took the podium and began to drone on and on about how unfair lending practices damage a financial institution’s reputation, blah, blah, and blah.

Derek stared down at the picture he’d drawn of a giraffe in a suit. It was pretty much a cartoon version of the meeting in which he currently found himself  wasting away. The green ink scrawled across the page, and for fun, he gave the giraffe a moustache and a comb over. Isaac took a quick peak and gave a quiet chuckle. As he switched over to the blue pen to shade in the spots on the giraffe, Derek stared in horror at his paper.

His fingers couldn’t keep their grip on the pens, and they tumbled to the floor along with his notebook. They had to have made a noise as they hit the ground, but he couldn’t hear a thing. He couldn’t breathe. Well he could, but it was short, rapid breaths.

“Are you okay?”

Isaac’s voice sounded to him like the man was speaking underwater. Derek felt the room spinning, and soon found himself being ushered out of the room, his arm strewn across Isaac’s shoulders for support. Once the doors closed behind him, Isaac propped him against the wall, but Derek could no longer feel his legs and slid to the ground.

“Derek, are you having a heart attack?”

“The colors…the colors.” He panted.

“What about them?”

“They’re, they’re gone!” He pawed at his chest. Colors appeared when someone met their soulmate, and colors faded back to black and white when…oh god. “Stiles…oh my god. I’m gonna be sick.”

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Derek rushed through the emergency room doors where he found the sheriff and Scott sitting, stunned in the waiting room. Before he could say a word, they both wrapped him in a tight hug. “What happened?” He asked in a half shout, half desperate wail. “He was fine this morning!” He sobbed into Scott’s shoulder.

The sheriff, bless him, rubbed soothing circles into Derek’s back. The man had to be feeling almost as lost as Derek. He’d lost his only child after all. “There was a robbery at the bank-”

“I told him to go tomorrow.” Derek’s head still spun. See, everyone always talked about how the colors bled to gray. No one ever talked about the actual pain. Whether it was purely emotional or had some physical element, Derek didn’t know. All he knew right then, was that it felt like he had literally been ripped in two. Each breath was utter agony; he was rudderless, couldn’t find direction in the world. How…how was he supposed to come back from this?”

“Someone tried to be a hero and call the cops. No, it wasn’t Stiles. The robbers started shooting. Derek, he di-”

“Don’t, don’t say that word. Tell me me’s in a coma; he’s struggling to live. Tell me anything but that!”

He shook his head. He could tell Derek no such thing. “Not only did he shield Laura from bullets, but another child as well. Derek, he died a hero. ”

Derek felt his gut drop. In his shock, he’d simply accepted that Laura had been lost too. He was Derek Hale; he didn’t get to have, much less keep beautiful things. “Laura? Is she-” His voice squeaked out, the words dying on his lips.

“Minor injuries and a concussion from when they hit the ground.”

They waited for a nurse to come take them to Laura’s room, and Derek couldn’t help the bittersweet smile on his face. He hurt like hell, ached for his loss. Knowing Laura was okay, and he still had her, gave him the strength to go on, because honestly, if he’d lost her too, he knew he would never recover, nor would he want to.

“Daddy!” Laura made grabby hands at him. Her hair looked matted with dried blood, and he knew it would take forever to comb out the knots because of it without breaking her hair. He gulped; that was probably Stiles’ blood, and he felt his stomach roll with nausea again.

Careful not squeeze too hard, he hugged her with everything he had, grateful for once that his husband is—no, was, so lionhearted (To the point of foolhardy). She still smelled…he could still smell Stiles’ cologne on her, and it made his heart break even more.

He’d get through this; he had to.

For Laura.

 

*   *   *   *  *

**Eight years later**

 

Derek signalled for the driver of the boat to slow to a stop. They were far enough out.

At the seat near the bow, Laura sat staring out at the waves. He knew she saw them the same way he did, in a muted, colorless haze. Her arms lie crossed on the railing, her skin growing a richer shade of taupe in the sun. “Hey, whatcha thinking about?”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “About Papa. I still miss him.”

He ruffled her hair. She’d spent so long straightening it every morning lately, and it made his heart ache for the way she used to wear it, leaving it natural. It didn’t matter to him how she wore her hair; she was beautiful either way. It just served as a reminder that his little girl was growing up so fast, and Stiles…he sighed. That ache would never go away, never heal. Days like today only served as a cruel reminder of all that Stiles would never get to see. He kissed the top of her head.  “I miss him too.” Hell, he’d folded Stiles’ favorite sweatshirt, sealing away in a large zipper bag. Those times he felt especially sad, he’d open it, let the slowly fading scent of his husband wash over him.

“So you didn’t say why we came out here? Neither one of us likes to fish.”

The small chuckle that escaped his throat helped lighten his heavy heart. “Well, that morning, Papa told me about this dream he had. To come to Hawaii and take a boat out here to see the way the colors of the water blended together. I promised him that I would make sure he saw it. Took me almost eight years to even have the strength to think about it.”

Laura turned around on her seat and hugged him. “He would have loved it out here.”

“He said he’d waited his whole life to see the ocean from this far out.” From the backpack he’d worn aboard, he pulled an urn. “This is why we came out here.”

Laura traced her fingers along the elegant swirls painted onto the metal. “Papa’s ashes.”

He nodded and signaled for the boat engine to start back up. Then he pointed the top of the urn in her direction. “You want to do the honors?”

As if that cap was the most precious thing in the world, she unscrewed it slowly, until it came loose, the trail of ashes leaving a billowing trail behind them as they pulled away.

“You would have loved it out here, Babe. It’s beautiful, even if I can’t see the colors. Only seems fair, because you didn’t get to see them either. We miss you.” He wrapped an arm around Laura’s shoulders, and they both watched the wind carried Stiles’ remains on the breeze to their final resting place.

When the boat had sailed too far away, and they could no longer see the place they’d stopped, Derek buried his head in his hands. The weight he’d been carrying on his shoulders for almost eight years had finally lifted. He’d finally kept the last promise he’d ever made to his husband.

He made sure Stiles saw the ocean far away from land and all the colors it had to offer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on tumblr. I dont bite; I promise
> 
>  
> 
> captaintinymite.tumblr.com


End file.
